Tuesday, 22 April 2008

Here's hoping

“I've been told by doctors and surgeons that I have the energy of ten men who have normal jobs.”

Now, some may think to themselves that this either a quote from Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard, such is their confidence in their own magnificence. It is in fact a quote from the god of nutjobs, Gary Busey. He of Point Break fame and general lunacy. But this confidence of having strength beyond mere mortals is no doubt common among footballers. Glenn Helder is surely not the only narcissist to have found fame on the football field and in the next two days there’s an awful lot of players who believe, or are told by hungry hacks each week, that they are God’s gift to football.

And why should we doubt the hype, after all between the four teams left in the Champions League they contain some of the highest earning players on the planet – from Messi to Eto’ooooo, from Lamps to JT, from $tevie Me to Torres, and Ronaldo to Rooney – all of whom have staked claims to be either the best player in the world outright or at least one of the finest in their chosen position.

The double header of Champions League semi finals – both first and second legs – are pretty much the finest entertainment on TV all year when things go well and as fans we should all hope that at the very least we get some decent games here. These are after all, the four sides who have dominated the Champions League in the last few seasons (Chelsea – 3 semi finals; Pool one title; one final; one semi final; Man United 2 semi finals and Barca 1 title), so in theory, were one to ignore the actual snorefest that Pool v Chelsea generally is, we could have some great action afoot.

So, let’s hope there’s no shit on a stick at Anfield or the Bridge; let’s pray for no arguments about whether Ronaldo is a big game player or not (as he will prove his doubters wrong at some stage with the scary amount of talent he has); and let’s all cross our fingers for some decent action between four sides with the pedigree to warrant being called the four best in European football this season.

No predictions, as I’ll get them horribly wrong (okay can’t resist… 2-0 Pool, 1-1 at the Nou Camp), but fuck it let’s just enjoy these games and hope something resembling the following action occurs in these four hugely hyped games in the next week.